Wheel (album)

Last updated

Wheel
Laura-stevenson-wheel-cover-art.jpg
Studio album by
Laura Stevenson
ReleasedApril 23, 2013
RecordedFall 2012; Marcata Recording, New Paltz, New York
Genre Folk
Length46:10
Label Don Giovanni Records
Producer Kevin McMahon
Laura Stevenson chronology
Sit Resist
(2011)		Wheel
(2013)		 Cocksure
(2015)

Wheel is the third album by American singer-songwriter Laura Stevenson, and the first to be credited solely to her. [1] The album was released through Don Giovanni Records on April 23, 2013.

Contents

Background and recording

Stevenson stated that the album's tracks were written in "various states of depression" and that she had a "tormented" time recording the album. She said: "The recording process, I really struggled with it, so I put it away. And then, everybody was like, 'Oh, you’re gonna get a Pitchfork review and this is gonna be so cool.' So I was like, 'Oh, okay.' Then my hopes got really high that things were going to get easier for me, like I was gonna get a little bump and that was going to be helpful. Then that didn’t happen and it was the same slog, which is fine now, in retrospect. But when it came out, I got super disappointed afterwards and then I just tucked that record away. I mean, I still played the songs, but I never really listened to it." [2]

Critical reception

Pitchfork gave the album a lukewarm review, awarding it a score of 6.2 out of 10. Staff writer Laura Snapes wrote: "The thick arrangements and too-poignant string interludes often make Stevenson’s lyrics difficult to hear properly, and their tendency toward generic twang and climax gets old quickly. Wheel is accomplished, but does next to nothing you haven’t heard before and offers no original thrills. It's no means an unpleasant record, however, and Stevenson is a winsome presence with a wild voice, and an occasional knack for compellingly weird hybrids." [3]

Track listing

  1. Renée
  2. Triangle
  3. Runner
  4. Every Tense
  5. Bells & Whistles
  6. Sink, Swim
  7. The Hole
  8. Eleonora
  9. The Move
  10. Journey to the Center of the Earth
  11. Telluride
  12. L-Dopa
  13. The Wheel

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic 81/100 [4]
Review scores
SourceRating
Pitchfork Media 6.2/10 [5]
PopMatters 9/10 [6]
Punknews.org4.5/5 [7]
Sputnikmusic5/5 [8]

References

  1. ↑ Gallagher, Natalie. "Laura Stevenson: I'm not writing for people with an". City Pages.
  2. ↑ https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/laura-stevenson/laura-stevenson-looks-back-on-10-years-of-wheel
  3. ↑ Snapes, Laura. "Laura Stevenson: Wheel". Pitchfork. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
  4. ↑ "Wheel by Laura Stevenson Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic . CBS Interactive . Retrieved October 29, 2018.
  5. ↑ Snapes, Laura (April 29, 2013). "Laura Stevenson: Wheel Album Review". Pitchfork .
  6. ↑ Smith, Robin (April 23, 2013). "Laura Stevenson: Wheel". PopMatters .
  7. ↑ "Laura Stevenson - Wheel". PunkNews. April 30, 2013.
  8. ↑ Freeman, Channing (April 4, 2013). "Review: Laura Stevenson - Wheel". Sputnikmusic.


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